Jeroen Hendriks

CCNAP Communication Board Member

Dear Colleagues,

Recently I was selected as CCNAP board member for Communications and as such I will be especially involved in the CCNAP Newsletter. I would like to take the opportunity to introduce myself. I work as a specialised nurse and PhD-student in the Maastricht University Medical Centre (MUMC) in Maastricht, the Netherlands. During my PhD, I evaluated a newly developed integrated chronic care program for patients with atrial fibrillation. This program consists of a nurse-led, guidelines-based, software supported outpatient clinic (AF-Clinic), developed in the MUMC. Besides my position as a PhD-student, I am involved in direct care for patients with AF within this AF-Clinic. Currently, I am finalizing my PhD, in which I am focussing on the cost effectiveness of this integrated chronic care approach in AF. One of the main results of the study is that we were able to demonstrate significant reductions in cardiovascular hospitalization and death within this AF-Clinic compared to usual care.

My activities in the Dutch Society of Cardiovascular Nursing and CCNAP

In the Netherlands I have been an active member of the Dutch Society of Cardiovascular Nurses (NVHVV) for many years, being one of the editors of the Society's Journal "Cordiaal" and being the Chair of the Working Group on Atrial Fibrillation. This summer I was elected to be the President of the Society and I fulfil this role with great pleasure. Due to the latter position, I also became a member of the CCNAP National Societies Committee. And now I have also been selected to the board of CCNAP, in the post of Communications.

The importance of Communication

In my opinion, communication is extremely important in all processes of daily life. It is a very broad concept with many (hidden) potentials and therefore communication should be utilized optimally. Communication within CCNAP is necessary to understand and inform each other, to reach the members, to contact working groups and committees, to link people with similar areas of interest, and to subsequently jointly work on projects and reach goals.
To achieve this, it is essential to know what keeps working groups and committees busy and who is involved. Recently, several persons were selected to become active CCNAP committee members. In the next few months they will introduce themselves to you.